(Reuters) - A private door opens from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office in central Jerusalem directly into a long, modestly furnished, half-paneled room decorated with modern paintings by Israeli artists and a copy of Israel's 1948 declaration of independence. It contains little more than a long wooden table, brown leather chairs and a single old-fashioned white projector screen.

This inner sanctum at the end of a corridor between Netanyahu's private room and the office of his top military adviser, is where one of the decade's most momentous military decisions could soon be taken: to launch an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear program.

Time for that decision is fast running out and the mood in Jerusalem is hardening.Iran continues to enrich uranium in defiance of international pressure, saying it needs the fuel for its civilian nuclear program. The West is convinced that Tehran's real objective is to build an atomic bomb - something which the Jewish state will never accept because its leaders consider a nuclear armed-Iran a threat to its very existence.
Adding to the international pressure, U.S. ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro said this week American military plans to strike Iran were "ready" and the option was "fully available".
The central role Iran plays in Netanyahu's deliberations is reflected in the huge map of the Middle East hanging by the door of his office. Israel lies on one edge, with Iran taking pride of place in the centre.
Experts say that within a few months, much of Iran's nuclear program will have been moved deep underground beneath the Fordow mountain, making a successful military strike much more difficult.
LOCKDOWN
As the deadline for a decision draws nearer, the public pronouncements of Israel's top officials and military have changed. After hawkish warnings about a possible strike earlier this year, their language of late has been more guarded and clues to their intentions more difficult to discern.
"The top of the government has gone into lockdown," one official said. "Nobody is saying anything publicly. That in itself tells you a lot about where things stand."
Last week Netanyahu pulled off a spectacular political surprise, creating a coalition of national unity and delaying elections which everyone believed were inevitable. The maneuver also led to speculation that the Israeli leader wanted a broad, strong government to lead a military campaign.
The inclusion of the Iranian-born former Israeli chief of staff and veteran soldier, Gen. Shaul Mofaz, in the coalition, fuelled that speculation - even though both Mofaz and Netanyahu deny that Iran was mentioned in the coalition negotiations.
"I think they have made a decision to attack," said one senior Israeli figure with close ties to the leadership. "It is going to happen. The window of opportunity is before the U.S. presidential election in November. This way they will bounce the Americans into supporting them."
Those close to Netanyahu are more cautious, saying no assumptions should be made about an attack on Iran - an attack with such potentially devastating consequences across the volatile Middle East that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas even went so far as to predict in an interview with Reuters last week that it would be "the end of the world".
Israelis particularly fear retaliation from Iran's proxy militias - the Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon and the Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip. Both are believed to possess large arsenals of rockets which could hit major Israeli towns and cities.
Hezbollah's deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem told Reuters in February that an Israeli attack on Iran would set the whole Middle East ablaze "with no limit to the fires". "Gone are the days when Israel decides to strike, and the people are silent," he said.
The Israeli Prime Minister and his key allies repeat for public consumption the mantra that economic sanctions against Iran must be given time to work and that now is not the time to speak about military options.
Top officials explain the new coalition on purely domestic grounds, saying it was needed to tackle the thorny and divisive issue of pressing Orthodox Jews into military service - in other words, that its formation has much more to do with the agenda inside Israel than abroad.
BURIED NUCLEAR STATES
Diplomats are divided. "I think the Iran thing is a red herring," said one senior Western envoy. "This is 98 percent about domestic politics". Others are less convinced.
Mofaz himself refuses to speak about military action against Iran, even in the theoretical.
A military veteran with almost 40 years' operational experience, whose office in the Israeli parliament displays a poster of Israeli warplanes flying low over the Auschwitz concentration camp, he scoffs at the idea that his Iranian descent gives him special influence on an Iran attack decision. He derides the idea any serious official in the know would talk to visiting journalists about such a sensitive military subject.
But behind the carefully evasive language of top officials, basic facts are clear. Time is running out. Iran's nuclear program - regarded by Netanyahu as an existential threat to the state of Israel - will soon be buried deep enough underground to render an Israeli attack impossible. The Jewish state's options are narrowing.
"I think they've gone into lockdown mode now," the senior Western diplomat said. "Whatever happens next, whatever they decide, we will not find out until it happens."
There are indeed those who see in Israeli posturing over Iran only bluff intended to press world powers into harsher sanctions and avoid war. Some military experts openly doubt how much damage Israel could inflict. The risk of a fiasco is big.
Perhaps the strongest clue as to Israel's real intentions is to be found in Netanyahu's private office, behind his desk. Officials say the Israeli premier was strongly influenced by his father, who died last month at the age of 102.
Benzion Netanyahu was a distinguished scholar of Jewish history and his strong sense of the past lives on in Benjamin, who laments to visitors that "most people's sense of history goes back to breakfast time".
On a shelf behind Netanyahu's desk, along with pictures of his family, is a photograph of Winston Churchill. Netanyahu admires the British wartime premier because he saw the true dangers posed by Nazi Germany to the world at a time when many other politicians argued for appeasing Hitler.
The parallels with modern-day Iran are obvious and Netanyahu is explicit about the dangers he believes are posed by militant Islam: as he puts it, its convulsive power, its cult of death and its ideological zeal.
But Churchill, although eloquent on the dangers posed by the rise of Nazi Germany during the 1930s, ultimately failed to prevent Hitler's ascent to power, the world war he unleashed or the Holocaust in which six million Jews were murdered.
Netanyahu, those who know him say, is determined to avoid going down in history as the man who shirked his opportunity to stop Iran going nuclear. (Additional reporting by Samia Nakhoul and Crispian Balmer; editing by Ralph Boulton)

Jesus fuck this is scary. Yeah we hear this sort of shit every day, but the idea of no military or governmental rhetoric coming out of Israel is scarier. I don't like it when things get quiet, it's like the silence before the storm.

Israel threads always start with so much potential and end up like fucking 4chan. That being said was does Iran even consider this? They know the U.S and Israel are practically fuck buddies. . .

Alright, this needs to be said. If we're going to have a good discussion about this, we can't use phrases like "fuck buddies" or any of that shit. Know what you're saying and use the correct terminology please. I'm just saying so this doesn't turn into a total mess like these threads usually do.

You are correct ewitwins. The relationship between Israel and the US can hardly be described in terms of being 'fuck-buddies'. Well said.

Indeed it would be more accurately described as brutal anal rape with the US at the receiving end, then having to pay for the privilege too. I completely agree with your analysis of the situation ewitwins.

Strange that it may turn out to be Iran that saves the US from this disgustingly one sided, abusive relationship.

That you think it is okay for innocent people living in each country to perish because of their foolish governments. That you think it is okay for my relatives back in Iran to have their homes and potentially their lives taken away from them.

You are correct ewitwins. The relationship between Israel and the US can hardly be described in terms of being 'fuck-buddies'. Well said.

Indeed it would be more accurately described as brutal anal rape with the US at the receiving end, then having to pay for the privilege too. I completely agree with your analysis of the situation ewitwins.

Strange that it may turn out to be Iran that saves the US from this disgustingly one sided, abusive relationship.

You truly are an ignorant fool. I can't wait to see how you post after you go 15 miles outside your home town and realize that the world isn't 10 square miles of your own opinion built up by your parents and the internet. Yes, we have an interesting relationship with Israel, but it's built up by this mundane guilt over WWII and more importantly that we view them as a strategic asset in the middle east. We are starting to realize they do more to harm our position in the Middle East than good, but we cannot simply abandon them due to the consequences of letting an entire 1st world country being obliterated. IF this all goes down, whether we are there to protect them or not. they will lose more than they've ever lost before. This being said, There is an amount of humility that comes with great loss. These people have been surrounded by countries that have wanted to destroy them for over 60 years. It was OUR fault that they're there in the first place, and you don't simply abandon what you create. Whenever the US does that there is an inevitable fallout which occurs. Yes, Israel has become filled with hate and deformed from its original intentions, but that does NOT mean we let innocent people die. Yes, We NEED to have a stronger stance regarding Palestinians, Israel cannot be allowed to continue their campaign against these people, and yes, we can't allow them to continue this venomous rhetoric which will lead to their destruction. But I refuse to allow the idea that we leave people to die.

Learning Israel's history I understood more and more their actions. Not an excuse for illegal settlements and prisons along with various other actions - that's condemnable, but enough for me to say that a lot of Facepunchers are bandwagoning on Israel hate without actually understanding the conflicts well.

Learning Israel's history I understood more and more their actions. Not an excuse for illegal settlements and prisons along with various other actions - that's condemnable, but enough for me to say that a lot of Facepunchers are bandwagoning on Israel hate without actually understanding the conflicts well.

The fact that they're surrounded by countries that would love to seem them die in a fire has made them a bit edgy to say the least.

We might not have a choice, much less the rest of the world. This is the 21st century, we can't allow a first world country to get wiped off the map. The same goes for Israel striking Iran, which is why the US is giving them the strong-arm about it.

So you think there should be wars because there always have been wars?

Because that's exactly what you just said.

I wish there would be no wars. I wish that peace could exist for more than a few fleeting years before descending into war again. It's human nature to compete, fight, and kill one another, there's no point in trying to completely stop it. We can make alliances, we can make sanctions of peace, but as long as there are two nations on this planet, one is going to declare war on another. Don't get me wrong, peace is a great thing, but it has never and will never last that long.

You can argue about the legitimacy of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars, but not getting involved in a war between two first-world countries which could possibly lead to a world conflict would be the stupid move, let alone Iran and Israel, who have been enemies since 1947.

Perhaps I misunderstood your post, but Iran is still a developing country by any standard. The only way you could call it a first world nation would be if you used the original Cold War terminology.
But y'know, we stopped using that when the cold war ended.

Perhaps I misunderstood your post, but Iran is still a developing country by any standard. The only way you could call it a first world nation would be if you used the original Cold War terminology.
But y'know, we stopped using that when the cold war ended.

They still have enough military power to put a huge dent into the middle east, not to mention all the radioactive materiel they have stored up.

Who gives a fuck if they fit the webster definition or not, what I'm trying to say is that if a war breaks out, NATO , including the US, will be obliged to be involved. If a war broke out and we didn't contain it, Iran might decide to dirty-bomb Israel until it's uninhabitable, which is a bad thing

Who gives a fuck if they fit the webster definition or not, what I'm trying to say is that if a war breaks out, NATO , including the US, will be obliged to be involved. If a war broke out and we didn't contain it, Iran might decide to dirty-bomb Israel until it's uninhabitable, which is a bad thing

I guess it's morally better to bomb the fuck out of Iran in that case then.

It's pretty clear Israel wants Iran off the map and they will coax the united states into helping them if given the chance.

Edit: I'd also like to see proof of Iran's dirty bombs, WMD's in Iraq were a lie, how can you be sure they aren't a lie this time? Heck, they aren't even a proper lie yet, they are a speculation that some people think true without proof.

Dirty bombs are a joke by the way. The most they can do is increase the chances of cancer in a very small area of land, and that itself will only be felt in about 15-20 years from the bomb detonating. Not a very successful weapon. Might as well use a chemical/biological one...

I think that has something to do with the constant threats Iran spews out. But, I believe Iran is years away from developing any type of nuclear ordinance, and attacking them would be a very wrong move.
But if they start moving troops towards the borders Israel's free to pull another six day war in my opinion.

It's human nature to compete, fight, and kill one another, there's no point in trying to completely stop it.

The (rather tiresome) Human Nature argument is a falsehood which is dangerous thinking that leads to misanthropy. It's also how capitalists (keyword I will explain later) escape responsibility for their own actions by saying "I can't help it, It's my my nature" the same tactic that rapists/abusers/etc use against their victims which in the end it all boils down to rewarding the individual and punishing the victim which is part of the capitalist ideology. It's also a divide & conquer strategy much like racism/nationalism/sexism/etc which is intended for shifting attention away from the real problem while pointing fingers at a strawman.

It's not the entirety of the Human Race you should be blaming but rather the Capitalist system itself which is actually the real driving force behind the competition, fighting, and killing one another since you have to remember, there is no money in peace and cooperation that's why war makes huge profits for capitalists via imperialism.

The (rather tiresome) Human Nature argument is a falsehood which is dangerous thinking that leads to misanthropy. It's also how capitalists (keyword I will explain later) escape responsibility for their own actions by saying "I can't help it, It's my my nature" the same tactic that rapists/abusers/etc use against their victims which in the end it all boils down to rewarding the individual and punishing the victim which is part of the capitalist ideology. It's also a divide & conquer strategy much like racism/nationalism/sexism/etc which is intended for shifting attention away from the real problem while pointing fingers at a strawman.

It's not the entirety of the Human Race you should be blaming but rather the Capitalist system itself which is actually the real driving force behind the competition, fighting, and killing one another since you have to remember, there is no money in peace and cooperation that's why war makes huge profits for capitalists via imperialism.

Right, because before capitalism there were no wars and everything was fine and dandy.

Dirty bombs are a joke by the way. The most they can do is increase the chances of cancer in a very small area of land, and that itself will only be felt in about 15-20 years from the bomb detonating. Not a very successful weapon. Might as well use a chemical/biological one...

Get a couple barrels of medical-grade cesium-137, put some explosives under it, and detonate it somewhere high, boom, lethal doses of radiation for everyone in a city-sized area. I have no idea where you get your information from but elements like plutonium and cesium are plenty dangerous enough.